This week in Aspen we were busy practicing for our upcoming AMMS Holiday program! Line time lessons were full of Holiday Cheer as we practiced our lines, songs, and hand motions. At the same time, we reviewed proper stage etiquette and the expectations for standing on risers as we perform. All children agreed that safe hands, careful feet, quiet mouths (bubbles), and big smiles are what is expected while performing . The Aspen children rocked it! They have already brought so much Holiday joy and tears of happiness to their teachers eyes! They are absolutely adorable and amazing and this is only practice! You are all in for a real Holiday treat!!

In regards to what to wear , Aspen students need to have a long sleeved solid RED shirt brought in to school by next Friday, December 8!! The Aspen students will be decorating them with a special surprise for the show. Please have your child also wear nice dark colored pants, leggings, or skirt with their shirt the day of the program. We politely request no jeans! The Aspen class get to be “Rockin” Christmas Trees this year and we are looking forward to our performance! Thank you so much for all of the support you have all given/shown us this year! Ms. Angela and I appreciate our Aspen parents so much!

In Readers Workshop, the Cardinals practiced their reading (phonological awareness) skills as they worked on a complete the sentence worksheet. The Cardinals practiced following directions as we completed sentences with the word that made the most sense. Some of our word choices created some super silly sentences! The Cardinals also played ” Sight Word Showdown ” where a card containing a Sight word is held up and the Cardinal students verbally identify them. We are already on our third Sight word box!! The Chickadees continued practing their segmenting and decoding as they received a new phonetic reader booklet containing new sight words. Our Chickadees have all begun to show more confidence and fluency when decoding words and were a amazing with their Sight Words! The Chickadees also played “Sight Word Showdown! ” They also received a new Sight Word called once! We learned that it is super silly and doesn’t follow our typical phonetic rules! I mean….an O making the W sound!! The Chickadees found this hilarious and we had so much fun using it in sentences!

Decorating our classroom tree activity.

Transferring ornaments

Static Addition with the Stamp Game!! Combining numbers is fun!

Pinpricking Holiday pictures!

Library time with Ms. Lindsey!

This week in Aspen we discussed how we behave at the dinner table with our Table Manners lesson! During Line Time we took turns sharing “What to do” and “What not to do” at the dinner table! All the children agreed that proper manners included lots of please and thank yous!! They also talked a lot about the importance of sitting in a chair appropriately and using eating utensils correctly. We also read How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. We sure had a lot of fun discussing all the silly and rude things the Dinosaurs did in the book. Our Aspen parents sure have some super polite children!!

This week the Aspen students also practiced how to set a place setting at the dinner table with our Table Setting activity. They are pros! If you need a helper this Thanksgiving , ask your child to show you what they learned!

Extensions with the Red Rods and Number Rods!

Building the Binomial Cube on the lid with no guide!!

Discrimination of height with the Cylinder Blocks.

Labeling the Continent Map!

Building the Trinomial Cube on the table!

A big thank you to Lily for bringing in a special Thanksgiving Turkey craft!!

Coloring our Thankful Wheel project! We got to draw or write all the things we are thankful for!

Watching The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie with our friends from Buckeye and Cherry Blossom!!!

Hello Aspen families! My apologies for not posting a blog for quite awhile! I got locked out of my WordPress account when they updated their security policy! Nevertheless, I am logged in, verified, and our Blog can once again be posted!! Please enjoy a massive amount of photos at the end of this week’s blog as part of my apology!

This week in Aspen it was all about our continent North America, Thanksgiving, Pilgrims, and Native Americans. The students in Aspen have been studying the locations and names of the countries in North America for the past few weeks. However, this week we began to take a look at the history of our continent and the U.S.A focusing on our upcoming holiday. In preparation for Thanksgiving next week we decided to discuss why we celebrate Thanksgiving. Aspen learned that long ago there was a group of people named the Pilgrims that lived in England. The Pilgrims held certain beliefs that were different from the King’s! The King had “Absolute Power” and you could not disagree with the king or you would be punished! The Pilgrims believing strongly held to their beliefs and decided to do something really brave! They decided to leave England for the New World (North America). We learned that the Pilgrims set sail across the Atlantic in a ship called The Mayflower. When the Pilgrims arrived in the new world they only found wilderness (trees, plants, and animals).There were no houses for them to move into, there were no stores like Giant Eagle or Acme to buy food! The Pilgrims had to build their own homes using wood they chopped down from trees in the forest, they had to grow their own crops, and hunt if they wanted meat! Aspen then discussed how the Pilgrims had a very hard and difficult time adjusting to their new environment! The soil for growing crops was different than theirs in England, there were different types of plants and berries (hard to know what was safe) , and they had to work hard planting, harvesting, hunting, and building to survive! Their first season was difficult, many Pilgrims did not make it through the winter! As the Pilgrims worked hard to survive they eventually realized that they shared their environment with a group of people called the Native Americans a tribe called the Wampanoag! The Wampanoag helped teach the Pilgrims how to survive in North America! As a result, during the Fall harvest the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag held a three day feast together celebrating the harvest thankful that they would have enough food and supplies to last the winter! Therefore, establishing our tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving! The children in Aspen used our puzzle maps and our Painted Globe to trace the Pilgrim’s journey while learning all about the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts! We also watched a Scholastic video on YouTube called Pilgrim Life with Scholastic News! We got to see what their daily life was like!

Next week we have a two day school week to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday! Our group lessons will be all about Table Manners! If your child attends school on Tuesday, we will have a Sharing Day! Your child is invited to bring in one item from home to share and discuss during Line Time! Your child’s sharing item should be able to fit in their bookbag and should be limited to one item. Pretend weapons of any kind are prohibited including Lightsabers!

In Readers Workshop both groups have continued their work with segmenting and decoding! Cardinals are continuing their work with Phonograms and Sight Words. They have been reading paragraphs and booklets utilizing their knowledge from group lessons to practice fluency. The Chickadees have continued their work with decoding focusing on booklets (Readers) with new Sight Words weekly! Next week there will be no reading group!

Tweezing corn kernels!

Grinding our corn kernels into cornflour like the Pilgrims with a mortar and pestle!

Fun with the Tree Puzzle!

Sensorial Extensions with the Knobless Cylinders.

Labeling the countries in North America.

Moveable Alphabet Fun and copy writing the words onto lined paper!